Opposites Still Attract
by anna-online
Summary: Set after Gwen and Duncan's kiss is revealed to the contestants. Courtney is dying inside and praying that Duncan will never find out, Duncan's guilt begins to eat away at him and Gwen realises that she is still in love with Trent. Opposites still attract. Rated K for mature themes and slightly sexy situations.
1. Confessions

_In the confessional_

"Then I heard her say that the kiss was nice. _I_ know that his kisses are nice! They're nice when they're not a lie. I think that Duncan has been lying for a long while now" Courtney mumbles, downhearted, "I just don't want him to find out how I really feel. I know he thinks that I hate him, but if he knew the truth… I'm still in love with Duncan and that's why the blame falls on Gwen most of all. He can _never_ find out. I don't want him to know that it's hurts as much as it does"

Courtney could feel moisture ring around her eyes as she blinked. She sniffed and wiped at one of her eyes. She looked up to realise she was still on camera.

"Forget about it." She said to the camera, "He doesn't care anyway"

With that she turned to leave, sliding open the do to bump straight into Duncan's chest. Anybody could have seen her in this state and it had to be him. They're eyes met for a moment, in mutual understanding. They both knew that Duncan deserved to be kicked out of the plane this week. Duncan noticed that she'd been crying, but by the time he'd decided to stop pretending that he didn't care, she'd shoved past him, and brushed off the moment; disregarding it as nothing that meant anything.


	2. Advice

_In the confessional_

"Did I feel guilty when I saw Courtney outside the confessional? Of course I was; I'm not completely heartless." Duncan said, scratching at the back of his head, "I never meant to hurt her, it just kind of happened. Ugh, I didn't mean it"

Duncan thought back to when they'd first met. Day one on the total drama island set, he hadn't given Gwen a second glance; but he definitely felt an attraction toward Courtney, if at first it was only physical. When he was finally lucky enough to get the girl, after all those weeks they'd spent together, she was taken away from him. After all the drama throughout the second season, the fighting and their break up, they ended up together again. But now Duncan had been careless, and he'd thrown her away.

"You never mean for something like this to happen," he continued, "but it's in the past now, so I can't change it. I guess we'll just have to see how everything plays out"

Duncan left the confessional slightly more downcast than he'd been before he entered. How could he have messed up so badly? He stood beside the confessional door for a minute. His mind flashed past moments. He recognised the faces that flitted behind his eyelids. Most of them were on this plane. There were people that he liked, and people that he hated, and Gwen, and Courtney.

"What is wrong with me?" he voiced aloud

"You did mess up pretty bad" a voice replied, it was Alejandro

"Who asked you for advice?" Duncan glared at him standing in the aisle

"You did," Alejandro replied casually, "and I'd say that you screwed yourself over"

"Damn right," he found himself saying

"You should probably get onto that certain dilemma quickly"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what do you want, Duncan? More importantly, how will you get it?"

"I don't know what I want!" He shouted, punching at the wall in frustration

"Well figure it out" he said, and with that, made his own way into the confessional

_People have a lot to confess to today, _Duncan thought.


	3. Apologies

_Area 52 Challenge has just been completed_

Courtney caught herself wishing she was in the elimination room, and not in first class. She wanted Gwen gone more than anything, if only to relieve some of the tension in the group or some of the weight on her heart. She hated to admit, but she didn't really want Duncan to leave.

She scrawled pen across paper. She'd been keeping a journal to save her time with the total drama cast, something she'd neglected to do during the previous seasons. It felt good to let emotion flow out of her and onto the page. It felt like she was released for a while.

_When I step outside of my body and look in on myself _she wrote _I don't like what I see anymore. I feel used and wasted and pathetic now. I want somebody to notice that, I want Duncan to notice that. I want him to tell me that he still loves me, and pull me back when I walk away, and kiss me. It kills every moment that he doesn't. He hasn't yet, and I don't think that he ever will. I think maybe it's really over this time, permanently. I wish that I'd known it was the end; I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. _

She was interrupted by Sierra, still cutting out paper Gwen's and mashing them between her hands, across from her. She snipped at the paper body with her scissors and finally cut the head free.

"Boyfriend stealing is wrong" she muttered, before a sudden cry of "wrong!"

_I wish our team was in the elimination room _Courtney continued to write _I'd like a chance to jump._

She began to make her way to the elimination room, crossing her fingers and praying that Duncan wasn't jumping out of the plane tonight. That would only be another missed opportunity to say goodbye. As she left her seat, she noted that Gwen was missing, probably with the same idea as herself. _After all, _she thought, _he hers to care about now. _Courtney strode away from the winners cabin and toward Duncan. Of course Gwen was there already, safely hidden behind a totem pole. Courtney stopped in her tracks when she recognised the Goth's figure peering from round the totem to catch a glimpse of the eliminated.

"Tyler," she heard Chris say, "You're out!"

Courtney breathed a sigh of relief, just audible to Gwen as she turned to meet her eyes. Both females' eyes widened as they stood stiffly in position. It was like an unspoken apology, _I'm sorry that I kissed your boyfriend _and _I'm sorry that we can't be friends anymore. _Courtney broke from her trance long enough to rush to the other team, scream at them for voting off Tyler and not Duncan, and leave before she started to tear up again.


	4. Floating

Courtney hid herself in the luggage compartment. The air felt thin and it was hard to breather, but she knew they couldn't be that high up, the budget would not allow for a plane that reached high altitudes. The plane just glided below the clouds. Her tears had slowed and finally stopped and now all she felt was numb. Every few minutes she felt a pain in her chest.

"That's heartbreak" she told herself

A pang of longing struck her. Come and find me, she chanted in her head, Duncan, come and find me. But she knew he never would. She was alone. She stared at the small gap between the doors, where the wind whipped in and out of the compartment. It would be so easy to slide the doors open and let her body fall to the earth below. It would be like floating she thought I would float like an angel. She let her eyelids flutter closed, feeling another droplet slide down her cheek. When they flitted open again, she looked down to the world below. She had opened the doors and now she stood on the line between life and death. She could almost feel her heart dying inside of her, like a flame that was flickering, suffocating, about to go out. Should I do it? She asked herself. No, she reasoned, that would only mean that Duncan is worth dying for, and that's not how I feel anymore. The pain may have been unbearable, but she was sure and strong, and she would struggle through it. She heard a voice behind her.

"Court," Duncan spoke

She turned to face him. His eyes were wide, his body frozen in fear. There is no way this could be happening he thought she doesn't care that much. Courtney closed the door and retreated to her former place of seclusion, leaning against a wall of suitcases, likely all of them belonging to Chris. She turned her head away from him as he stepped toward her. Each footstep pounded in her ears, in time with the beat of her heart. Her blood was on fire, her mind was on fire, and her heart was no longer dying.

"I only came for a smoke" he informed her

She did not reply. He could do what he wanted, he didn't have to justify or explain anything to her. She wasn't sure why he'd bothered to. She sneaked a peek in his direction. Her eyes bore into his back as he kneeled by his duffel bag, removing cigarette packet. Despite her internal wishes for him to leave, he sat beside her, however making sure to keep his distance. She managed to brave a look at him, and in turn, he looked at her.

"Want one?" he asked her, pointing a cigarette in her direction

She thought for a moment before answering him, "yes"

She took the cigarette from his grip and held out her hand for his lighter, which he handed over. She placed the smoke between her lips and flicked the lighter on. The flame burned bright on the edge of the cigarette. Smoke drifted upward lazily. Courtney took a long drag and exhaled. She watched Duncan light his own smoke before blowing a few rings.

"Have you done this before?" he asked suspiciously, as she copied his actions, smoke rings of her own floating away from her lips

"I got pretty good at it during exams last year," she told him, "needed something to relieve the stress. But I quite pretty easily, before I got too far gone"

"So now you've taken it up again?"

"I guess so," she laughed a little uneasily

"Why do need it?" he asked her quietly, although he likely already knew the answer

"Stress," she whispered back


	5. Darkness

"_I can't compete with the she wolf who has brought me to my knees. What do you see in those yellow eyes?"_

_What does he even see in her? _Courtney thought to herself _she's only as pretty as I am, only as smart and strong as I am. When did that feeling appear in the both of them, how could I have failed to notice it? _Courtney blinked at the ground again, letting droplet splatter on the plush carpet. She only now began to realise how easy she had made it, how easily she'd lost herself in Duncan's eyes and let him slip into her heart. She'd never fallen so hard and so fast.

"Courtney," said a familiar voice, "it's okay"

She felt a small hand grace her shoulder, and looked up to see Heather smile shyly at her. What was Heather doing comforting her? Why had she stepped down from her pedestal to torment Courtney further? The manipulating and deceitful being was still at her side, crouching on her knees.

"It's all going to be fine" she repeated

Courtney glanced toward her lips, upturned in a seemingly genuine and small smile. She shifted her gaze toward her eyes and saw that they were smiling too. Heather had another side to her. One that she'd rarely let anybody see.

"I hope so," she found herself whispering in reply

"Do you really hate him?" Heather asked, shifting her figure to sit beside Courtney

It was dark in the cabin and everyone but the two competitors were asleep, resting peacefully, with dreams left untainted by heart ache and madness. Courtney and Heather sat beside one another, both hugging their knees to their chests, their backs leaning on the cushy seats of first class.

"No," she answered truthfully, "but I want to"

"Why do you need to hate him? Why can't you just let it go?"

"He just really broke me, alright?"

"Yeah, they do that sometimes, don't they?"

"Who are they?"

"The people we love," she replied, "sometimes they break us, and we don't know why"

"Why didn't he choose me?" Courtney asked the raven haired beauty tearfully

"I don't know"

They sat in silence for a few minutes just breathing in the darkness; the quiet night speaking louder than their words ever could. It was as if the heavy hearts that they shared were linked somehow, like they could share in the pain. Courtney almost felt as if Heather had taken a little of her pain away, to carry as her own burden. All of a sudden, Heather lifted her hand to rest on Courtney's, and squeezed comfort into her fingertips.

"The moment's still burned into my mind" Courtney told her

"It might stay that way for a while"


	6. Authors Note

Readers,

I am sorry I haven't posted another chapter in a couple of weeks, I've started school holidays and have just been a little busy. I am also sorry for that lame excuse, but it's all I've got. Thanks to you patient lovelies who put up with it. Special thank you to "courtneyduncanlover" who I saw a story by while I was browsing and, intrigued, I clicked on her profile. Seeing she had written just one story, I clicked on her favourites. Guess what was the story she had favourite? Drumroll please, it was "Opposites Still Attract!" Wow, what a coincidence that I happened to stumble across. Another shout out to "PabloPenguin1800" thank you for your _very _kind words; so nice of you. A new chapter will be up in a few days at the most. Thanks for reading so far, please review, love you all x

Love Anna,


	7. Eliminated

_I may live a lie, running for my life_

_I will always want you_

_All I wanted was to break your walls_

_All you ever did was break me_

The outback was sweltering, not only from the searing sun above, but the teams appeared to be sweating tension. The discomfort and emotion seemed to roll down their cheeks and bead on their foreheads. Gwen felt especially terrible. She had let herself become a home wrecker. She'd gotten lost in the moment and allowed herself to pull two people who needed one another apart. Maybe Duncan didn't see it himself, but Gwen knew that he still had a space for Courtney in his heart, that space was slowly taking over once again. Gwen knew that the most recent kiss they had shared was fading from his memory and she was being pushed from his thoughts.

_Hanging Rock Challenge completed, Team Amazon make their way to the elimination room_

Gwen was finally eliminated. Courtney knew that she would be after convincing heather to vote her off. Courtney knew that heather had voted with both Sierra and herself to ease the pressure on Courtney's broken heart. After their late night whispers they'd both hidden that they were no longer enemies, as the competition demanded it. Heather seemed willing to help, if only subtly; and that was good, at the moment, Courtney's heart still felt like it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean and was being crushed by the pressure, unable to escape. The Goth tumbled from the plane, her eyes wide, before her amazon team mates glimpsed her pull her parachute and float to the safety of the earth below. They remained convinced they were the ones in real danger, at the merciless hands of Chef and Chris and their twisted minds. Courtney was elated, relieved, but not altogether happy with what had happened to Gwen, after they had shared a moment of friendship and then an apology. _Although _she reasoned with herself _all but the final two of us will follow her eventually, it was never my choice. _She also thought _Duncan won't be happy. _

When she walked back to their economy seats, and she felt fear. Maybe Duncan would be upset instead of angry, but that really wasn't his style. On a few occasions (though she tried to conceal it) Duncan had actually scared her. She had always known he'd been in fights before, she knew that he usually won them, after all he wasn't a model citizen, but she wasn't normally afraid of him herself. She had wondered recently why he didn't mop the floor with her. She was sure that's what he wanted to do, she was sure he had the ability, and he clearly had no problem with stepping all over her feelings, breaking her heart, lying to her endlessly, messing with her head, and humiliating and degrading her while it was broadcast all over the country. When he got really angry sometimes she thought he would hit her, but he never did; that was when he might have still cared whether or not she ever spoke to him again, and now he obviously couldn't care any less.

While the rest of her team members retreated to their cabin, Courtney only kept walking and made it back to the luggage compartment. She took a few moments to stand and stare at Duncan duffel bag, most specifically, the front pocket that held the packet of cigarettes they had shared a few days ago. She had wanted so badly to kiss him; to kiss away their issues, to kiss away a different kiss. Their lips would have met and time would have reversed and he would have loved her like when he first did. Everything would be good. She soon realised that tears spilled over her cheeks again. (listen to my love by sia while reading this next scene, I wrote it to this song and it suddenly turned super intense and emotional) She sank to her knees, and then felt her body go slack and hit the cold metal, she curled her body in a poor attempt to feel less vulnerable than she already did, and she held her shoulders and tried to stop shaking. But she was alone and soon she gave in. She let her body go limp, limbs splayed out across the harsh flooring. She continued to shake, leaving control behind. She couldn't bring herself to care any longer. The tears did not stop their flow.

She had fallen asleep. When she woke, she blinked in the sudden daylight. A figure was shaking her awake gently. They seemed worried, concerned, afraid. Maybe they thought that she was dead. She could only pray that she was. His voice spoke to her.

"Court," he begged, "please wake up"


	8. Answers

**This is the final chapter of 'Opposites Still Attract.' I hope that you readers liked my first completed fanfiction, you sweet pumpkins. I know that this story was a bit short for a multichapter, but in the future you may read something longer. I had planned to write more but when I was writing this chapter it just felt like the end. It was coming to a close as I typed. Thanks for your patience and loveliness. The readers here are the nicest bunch of sunshine daisies. Please review, 'cause I would love some feedback. Without further ado, ladies and gents, the final chapter awaits you:**

_Now that it's real_

_Now that the dreams have given all they had to lend_

_I want to know_

_Do I stay or do I go_

Duncan couldn't say what came over her in that instant, but something must have. Then, in his most naïve moment to date, he thought _she might say love _he went on thinking _she might have said that it was love that came over her. _She spoke to him quietly from her place on the floor. She seemed calm and collected; she seemed unsurprised, despite how stunned she really was. She didn't sing, but Duncan could tell they were lyrics. He'd always known she'd loved music, but he never knew that she loved words as well.

"I've been trying to find what been in my mind, as the days keep turning into night" she went on to say, "Do you have any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?"

"No," He replied, smiling at her delirious state, "I have no idea"

"It can produce a few notes, though very flat, and is never put with the wrong end in front"

"What does that mean?" Duncan asked her

"I've no idea," she replied, "Though you know, this is only an afterthought, the original riddle, has no answer at all."

"Alright"

"You know sometimes when people talk about cyber bullying they say _oh well, it's just the internet_?"

"Yeah, I know"

"Oh well, it's just life" Courtney told him

It was then that she chose to pull him close to her and press her lips to his own. He smelled of cigarettes and something else that was just very Duncan. His lips moved on hers, he responded. He pulled her hair away from her face and twisted his fingers in the dark tresses. Her hands found their way to his neck and her fingertips knotted in the short hair at the back of his neck. They felt one another smile into the kiss. How could they not have known that this was what they had wanted all along? After the moment seemed to cool off their lips separated and she left a quick and gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Courtney finished speaking another few lines of the song to him, "now I see clearly it was you I'm looking for, all of my days"

Duncan sat upright, crossing his legs. She sat with him, opposite, facing one another. It might never be like it was, may never be the same between them. Unlike either of them wished, they could not turn back the clock. Duncan couldn't rewrite his mistakes, and neither could Courtney.

"What about Gwen?" Courtney asked him

"She been thinking about Trent again," he replied, "But I missed the fighting"

"It's never going to be the same," she told him, "You know that, right?"

"We don't have to talk about what's happened before now,"

"Could we get it out for a minute though?" she asked

"I messed up; I know that, we both made some bad choices"

"We could blame it on a lot of things," she replied, "or we could just admit that we were shit people"

"I know I was," he said, "I just want this to work"

"It never worked Duncan, and that was what I loved about us. I don't need it to work, I only need you to be the Neanderthal that you are, and I'll tell you to shut up, that's what we are"

"I'm the Neanderthal and you're the girl who tells me to shut up"

"It's love," she said, "by the way that was a big word, did you want me to get some ice before your brain overheats?"

"I think I'll be fine, Princess" he had to ask her something else, "so do opposites still attract"

"I don't think so. It's more than that. The fact that we're these people is only a coincidence"

"Oh well," he said, "it's only life"


End file.
